Lombroso's Theory Essay

An adherent of Lombroso’s theory would make quite offensive to some groups of people policy recommendations with regards to crime. It is apparent that supporter of Lombroso’s ideas would initiate crime policies like the ones suggested by Canadian professor Rushton: they would try to link crime with race. (Rushton, 1987) Racial explanations of differences in crime rates are of course hardly new; many criminologists will read Professor Rushton’s statements with a sense of déjà vu.

The attempt to relate crime and race clearly echoes the writings of Cesare Lombroso, both in method and conclusion. Ironically, given Rushton’s research focusing on the head-sizes of different races, Lombroso was also preoccupied with the study of offenders’ skulls. His primary research tool was a craniometer. In his instructions regarding the physical examination of criminals, Lombroso notes: “careful examination of this part (the skull) is of the utmost importance” (Lombroso, 1968).

Failure to distinguish a causal from an associative relationship permeates Lombroso’s writings. For example, in the chapter devoted to racial influences on crime in his major work, he makes statements such as the following: “I have found that in the departments where dark hair predominates the figures for murder reach 12.6%, while the light haired departments give only 6.3%” (Lombroso, 1968).

The reader should not interpret this as an example of mere muddleheaded empiricism on Lombroso’s part, the product of unscientific but benign inquisitiveness. Lombroso’s biological theory has a danger common to all such theories -- it led him to misinterpret data and to write statements that are shocking even to today’s reader, inured to racialism by the events of the 20th century. For example, Lombroso notes that gypsies are: “the living example of a whole race of criminals and have all the passions and all the vices of criminals.” (Lombroso, 1968) He then accuses them of all manner of vice, including cannibalism.

The tendency of craniometricians and criminal anthropologists to fit any finding into their explanatory models of crime is shown by their reactions to “anomalies” in brain size: “The large size of many criminal brains was a constant source of bother to craniometricians and criminal anthropologists. Broca (the famous French craniometrician) tended to dismiss it with his claim that sudden death by execution precluded the diminution that long bouts of disease produced in many honest men. (Haskell, 1993).

Broca also argued that brain size increased with the advancement of European civilization. When he found that the brain size of people buried in common graves in the 18th century was, on the average, larger than those buried in the 19th century, he argued that the earlier sample included higher status individuals (Haskell, 1993).

There are some important lessons to be learned from research on race and crime. First, it is clear that the news media are particularly sensitized to controversial research. Most empirical work in criminology is at once more substantive and less controversial. Accordingly, it escapes the attention of the news media and thereafter the public. Second, the importance of addressing the methodological shortcomings of a genetic explanation of crime cannot be over-stated. Although Professor Rushton has steered clear of speculating about the policy implications of a theory linking race and crime, Lombroso was not so reticent.

In his work we find the following: “When we realize that there exist beings, born criminals, who reproduce the instincts common to the wildest savages and . . . are destined by nature to injure others . . . we feel justified in demanding their extermination (Lombroso, 1968).

People who accept the view that variations in crime rates reflect genetic factors may also embrace an underlying message about crime prevention. There is an unmistakable message conveyed by a view asserting a race-crime relationship predicated on genetic differences. Social programs aim to eradicate educational, social, and economic inequities. These efforts can only be undermined by statements stressing the importance of genetic factors in determining criminality.

The real issue is whether we regard the evidence on the persistence of family problems and the continuity of troubling behavior from childhood to adult life as indicative of predispositions that are largely unrelated to their social context and that we are virtually powerless to alter. For many conservative writers, the dark conclusion to be dawn from this evidence is that there are sharp limits to what we can do for either troubled children or the troubled adults they often become. That conclusion lends support to the ever more intensive search for new methods of screening and incapacitation and to the simultaneous neglect of policies to reduce economic and racial disadvantage.

Uses of Statistical Information Paper

In the contemporary world information plays increasingly more important role, but it is particularly important in military actions and database. Obviously, statistical information is one of the key points of military success of a state, an army or even a particular military combat unit. In such a situation the statistical information gathered may be crucial for the success, especially in the situation when technologies achieved unparalleled results and the more information is known about a combat military unit the less chances for success it has and in contrast the more information this unit possesses about the enemy the more chances to succeed it has. In such a situation it is very important to clearly understand what types of statistical information is needed for a military combat unit in order to achieve its goals.

First of all, a few words should be said about theoretical approaches to gathering statistical information, among which may be named such approaches as Bayesian statistics, Dempster-Shafer, fuzzy logic, rule-based inference, rough set theory, statistical capacity theory. These theories and theoretical approaches may vary but there are some key elements each approach has to take into consideration. Notably it is of paramount importance to gather statistical information in order to make it systematic and unified and consequently easy to use in case of a military combat unit has to undertake some actions. In order to achieve such a result, it is necessary to provide good and comprehensible data presentation, than data have to be encoded and transmitted. The next step implies pooling of diverse data into a coherent picture, and finally measurement of the informativeness of both data and fusion system. In such a way statistical information undergoes four basic stages.

How Classical Conditioning Procedures Help to Potty Train Toddlers

My observation of particular learning process (toddler’s potty training) was supported by a diverse theoretical knowledge about classical conditioning procedures. I was able to observe ‘potty training’ activities initiated both by parents and child care professionals. The majority of professionals believe that children's toilet training should be initiated after 24 months of age, while the majority of parents believe training should begin before 24 months. This parental practice is of concern in light of conviction that most children do not fall within the readiness parameters until 24 months of age.

The best example of how classical conditioning can be applied to potty training toddlers is bedwetting alarm – a device that senses wetness and starts to ring if the child urinates in the bed. The child wakes up, and thus perceives that alarm is bad, attributing this meaning to going to toilet in bed. In order to strengthen the effects of the classical conditioning, a child should be explained that the alarm is used to help them wake up when they need to go to toilet.

Some parents and professionals may not be waiting for children to achieve a sufficient level of maturity before training. Initially, the large discrepancy between parent and professional beliefs seemed alarming. Yet, some evidence suggests that the gap between actual parent and professional practices may not be as great. When parents were asked how they trained their children, their responses were more similar to the professionals'.

Forensic Psychologists and their Role in Child Custody Decisions

People started to talk about forensic psychology in the 21st century as soon as the testimonies of psychologists were used in courts in order to help the juries to come to the correct conclusion and come out with the clear verdict. Psychologists do contribute to identifying competence to standard trial, work with criminal profiling and play a great role in child custody cases.

Child custody disputes are rather sophisticated as the main decision concerns either removing or not the child from his/her home and from parents. Certainly there have to be provided a lot of evidences, like mental illness of a parent, lack of necessary care for child and so on. In order to collect all the necessary information, interviews, standardized tests, observations of interactions between parent and child are used. Usually such kinds of trials are emotionally hard.

Indian Philosophy of Jainism

Introduction

Jainism, stemming from a succession of 24 Jinas (“conquerors”) is now a religious belief with followers constituting a minority in modern India and scattered patches in the United States, Europe, East Asia and other places. This religion is notable for its ascetic tradition (Shraman) and a set of specific religious beliefs and concepts, originating out of both Hinduism and Buddhism. Through self-control and abstention, Jains (followers of Jainism) seek to achieve moksha, liberation from the rebirth cycle. Like most religions, Jainism is grounded in a set of philosophical concepts that form a coherent whole and provide a normative framework for the behaviour of Jains.

1. Reincarnation, Moksha and Self-Control

The fundamental idea that underlies Jaina epistemiology is that “human beings are in a position to be omniscient and that this view is based on the teaching of omniscient beings who have taught the basic ideas after having become enlightened through a strict ascetic discipline” (Soni 2000:369). The omniscient beings are described as "Jinas" (“conquerors”), and their list ends with Pārśva and Buddha’s contemporary Mahāvīra. The teaching of Jinas is supposed to be authoritative to all other Jaina believers and is taken as the foundation for any concepts in ontology, epistemiology, or ethics. Jinas are also called Tīrthaṃkaras ("ford-makers"), with the metaphor alluding to the Jinas helping unite the two sides of the life’s stream, the mundane and the godly one.

Essay: Social Psychology in the Media

One of the most recent and important events in the media is certainly the issue of abuse, family/dating violence and rape. I personally see these events as oftentimes discussed in mass media and for this reason will use them in this essay. Having searched the articles database I found some of them that all depict the following topics.

One of the most important elements in the articles related to violence and abuse was the statistic represented by five key points to consider when working with school age children. One learnt that witnessing domestic violence by children typically means that domestic violence will pass from one generation to another. I learnt the sad statistics of abused females in US high schools and those who knew at least one person abused by her sexual partner. Here writers strive to associate the reader with the other victims of domestic violence or rape, the psychological technique initiated to create emotional bondage with the read information.

Homodiegetic Narration

The first-person narration of “The Collector” by John Fowles and “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley is one of the features that make these stories so outstanding. It is about having a chance of looking into the brains of the protagonists, and trying to see the complete picture of what happened.

Both stories are not traditional in the manner of the text construction. Both Fowles and Shelley use uncommon schemes: he, using both protagonists to tell the story from their perspective, one after another, as if summing it all up, and she, using a story-within-a-story (sort of “wrapped” into it).

The “Collector” reveals the characters of two main characters, who tell the same story in a row, so that the reader could see what really happened, and was they felt about it. Frederick (though he preferred to be called Ferdinand, but was called Caliban anyway) Clegg’s part of the kidnapping and the life of Miranda in the sellar of his detached house is quite sketchy, if the reader reads the whole story. He is the one to explain all the initial causes and intentions, he is the only one to reveal his own way of thinking and feeling. Miranda’s point of view rarely coincides with what he thinks, but that’s what makes the picture more complete. Both of them are homodiegetic narrators, for they are not only telling the story, they are a part of it, the main part.